The Roof
by Chi Chi1
Summary: Yet another "how Bulma and Vejiita got together" fic. After a fight with Yamucha, Bulma and Vejiita end up on the roof together....


The Roof  
  
  
  
"I just don't care anymore Yamucha! I'm tired of your excuses! You can just *leave* for all I care. I am tired of seeing you around here only when *you* decide it's a good time to visit. I am not a gas station!" Bulma's shrill voice cut across the cool night air angrily. Her eyes were two blazing blue orbs, full of anger and hurt, and her hands were placed threateningly on her hips. "If you want to be with me, then you had better get a change of attitude, because I refuse to be treated this way. I will not be ignored, and I will not be made a fool. You never even think about the consequences of your actions, do you? You are not the only person in this relationship. What about what I want? What about what I need?"  
  
Yamucha sat up straighter in his chair and crossed his arms in front of his chest. All Bulma ever thought about was what she wanted and needed. Anger swept through him. How dare she accuse him of being selfish when she was the most self-centered person he had ever known? He had not been around that often lately, but that did not think that qualified him as a complete asshole. Did she honestly expect him to simply stop training and be with her all the time? The idea of it was simply absurd. He had an obligation to train; he was one of the strongest people on Earth, and Earth was in danger. He may not be able to fight as well as Gokuu or Piccolo, but he was still a fighter and he thought it was worth the effort to train. He knew that he was ignoring Bulma, but there was really nothing that he could do about that. The barbecue tonight was supposed to be an attempt to smooth things over, but after the dishes had been cleared and he, Bulma, and Vejiita sat under the stars, she had to bring up the subject again.  
  
Yamucha threw his hands up in the air, extremely frustrated. "Well what do you want me to do Bulma?! Just quit training all together and weaken Earth's chances to beat the jinzouningen, just so that I can be with you full time?" He questioned.  
  
She pointed a finger into his chest and snarled, "You were *never* with just *me* full time! There was always some other girl waiting in the background! I'm not stupid, you know. I saw what went on behind my back. I still see it. You can't even look at another woman without your tongue hanging out like a damn dog's. Maybe if I didn't suspect that you were cheating on me, I'd be a little more understanding!"  
  
It was true. All through the years that he and Bulma had been dating, he hadn't been monogamous at all. More often than not, he stood her up and took someone else out. It wasn't that he didn't love Bulma, he was pretty sure he did, but he just couldn't deal with her sometimes. She was way too much work for any man; he didn't care how strong they were. Besides, what was he supposed to do when some gorgeous blond with heavy cleavage and a sexy smile tried to lure him into a date? He never wanted to hurt her, of course, but it was simply too hard. A man could only take so much temptation. He was a handsome, charming man --- women threw themselves at him every day and it just wasn't worth the hassle to try and tame Bulma when he could have any girl he wanted, any time he wanted.  
  
He shrugged and turned away. "The other girls never gave me half as much trouble as you did! No one else ever complained. But then again, that's probably because they weren't spoiled stuck-up bitches like you!"  
  
Hurt marred her beautiful face at his words. The hands which had been poised tightly on her hips suddenly relaxed a little, as though she had been defeated. In all of their years together, he had never actually admitted that he had been unfaithful to her. He had always brushed off her suspicious comments and said that she had only been seeing things, but this time he had told her the truth. He told her the truth and he knew that it hurt her pride. He was sorry that he hurt her, but he was too angry to apologize. It was her fault, after all. If she weren't so difficult, he wouldn't have to go out with other women. If she were nicer to him, he wouldn't have to look in other places for comfort.  
  
Just as quickly as it came, the hurt melted away, replaced by complete and utter rage. He knew that Bulma had a nasty, violent temper when she was angry, and part of him cowered in fear as he watched her walk over to the barbeque grill. She was liable to do anything in this kind of state. To prove his point, she picked up a piece of charcoal and chucked it straight at his head. "You bastard! You've cheated on me the last time!"  
  
Yamucha flinched as the charcoal hit him and turned around to face her, stepping towards her menacingly. It didn't actually hurt, of course, but it was still pretty embarrassing to be hit by a woman in front of Vejiita.  
  
*Wait*. He thought suddenly, his eyes shooting towards Vejiita, who sat in his lawn chair, watching them with amusement. *She's accusing me of cheating? What about her*? There had been something going on between her and Vejiita ever since he first came here. She saw the way that she watched him when she thought that no one else was looking. She tried to act as though she hated him, but Yamucha knew it was all just a stupid act. For all he knew, she had probably been cheating on him this entire time.  
  
"You are such a hypocrite Bulma! Do you think I can't see what's going on between you and 'Prince Charming' over there?" He motioned at the silent Vejiita with his thumb.  
  
For a moment, he could see the emotion on her beautiful face. She looked frantic, as if some great secret had been let out. And then he knew that it was true. Sure, he had speculated before, but it looked as though he had been correct. He was furious. She had stood there before him, her head held high as she accused him of cheating on her, even made him feel bad about it. And yet, she was doing the same exact thing with Vejiita. The two of them probably had not begun a love affair yet, but he knew that she had feelings for him. And that was even worse that what he did. He had never felt anything for another woman, just more or less used them. But if Bulma had feelings for Vejiita, then it was just a complete betrayal. And then he thought about her and Vejiita together and felt like shooting someone. Vejiita. *Vejiita*. Vejiita with no manners, and no respect for women at all. That was the kind of man that she wanted to be with? He would ditch her after the first night. He would never give her any kind of respect or comfort. Just knowing that she had chosen Vejiita to replace him would be enough to make him sick. How could she possibly believe that someone like that was better than him?  
  
Bulma recovered slightly from his accusation, though she was still upset. Her hands were placed on her hips again, defensively as a deep red blush appeared on her cheeks. "There is nothing going on between Vejiita and me! How dare you even *think* about accusing me of something like that?" She declared. "I have been faithful to you during our entire relationship."  
  
Yamucha glared at her, still furious. If she thought he believed that, then she really was stupid. "Come on Bulma! I'm neither stupid nor blind. I can see what's going on. Maybe if you weren't so busy drooling over Vejiita, you could have found the time to call me once in a while."  
  
Vejiita stared coolly at Yamucha. "If you two wish to continue this pointless arguing, go somewhere else."  
  
"Never mind him. Get out of my house." Bulma said quietly to Yamucha, after glancing briefly at the Saiya-jin prince. Her voice was flat and even, emotionless and cold. Looking at her beautiful face, he wasn't sure that he had ever seen her so angry with him. She looked as though she simply didn't care anymore. "Don't call me, don't talk to me, just leave. Now."  
  
Yamucha's angered expression turned to a look of pure hurt. He never intended to make Bulma so angry, just ruffle her up a bit. Fights like this were normal for them, surely she didn't mean what she said. They were the kind of couple that had serious ups and downs, the kind that would never be stable and completely happy, but that was what he liked about them. She couldn't possibly be serious about breaking up just because he accused her of cheating on him with Vejiita! The thought that he might actually be closer than he thought about the situation between her and Vejiita crossed his mind. Panic rose from within and he began to feel hopelessness when he saw the look on her face. A look that once resembled playfulness and love now only resembled hatred. He had gone too far this time, crossed a line.  
  
There was no turning back now. He could see in her eyes that she had made her decision. It was over. Briefly, his mind ran through a series of moments from their relationship. He saw her laughing at something that he said, saw her playfully teasing him as he drove her somewhere on a date, saw the serious look on her face that had always appeared on her face before she kissed him. They had good times together, times that he would not trade for anything. But there was no love there, not anymore. And oddly enough, he was not as broken-hearted as he thought he might be. He felt more like his soul had finally been set free, as though he had been given wings. As much as he cared for Bulma, she had tried to keep him to close and hold him down, and that was not something that he wanted in his life. He would miss her, just because he had grown to know her so well, but he would not be sad. He would live his life just as he always had before, but with more freedom and less fighting. It was over. Slowly, he turned away and took off into flight, leaving Bulma and Vejiita alone on the ground.  
  
Although he wanted to, he never once glanced back.  
  
*****  
  
After Yamucha had disappeared into the horizon, Bulma picked up the charcoal she had chucked at him and threw back into the barbecue with so much force that it shook. She was still angry, so angry that she felt like she was going to be sick. After all of the times that she and Yamucha had broken up before, she had known that it would not last. But this time..this time it was different. This time she knew that she would never go back to him and he would never come back to her. Whether or not she should be happy about this, she didn't know. Her eyes found Vejiita's and they stared at another silently. As for his accusations about her and the Saiya-jin prince, she wasn't sure about that either. There was simply too much to think about right now and her head was practically swimming with thoughts and emotions. A loud clap of thunder startled her and she looked up to see dark storm clouds rolling in over the horizon.  
  
With a sigh, Bulma hurriedly closed up the grill, and turned to her chair, folding it up so that it would not get wet. When she raised her eyes to stare at him again, she noticed that he was still just sitting there, as if he had not noticed that it was going to rain. With the shadows of the lighting dancing across his face and his eyes focused on something in the distance, he looked beautiful. Actually, he always looked beautiful. Perfectly chiseled, perfectly handsome and full of pride. As purely a specimen, he was one of the most handsome men she had ever seen.  
  
"Vejiita? It's going to rain. You might want to put your chair away and get inside." She said cautiously as she began to walk back to the building.  
  
"It's just water, Woman. It's not going to kill me." he said, not moving.  
  
She stared at him with her arms crossed, as if to say that his excuse was not good enough. He stared back at her in challenge, and she felt her heart actually stop beating inside her chest. She felt a pull towards him, as if some unknown force was commanding her to keep looking into his dark eyes. Whatever it was, she could tell that he felt it was well, because gazing into his eyes like that, she felt as though she were seeing his very soul. She took a step forward, intrigued, but as soon as she moved he averted his eyes. Glaring at the ground, he picked up his chair, swiftly folded it, and tossed it with haste under the eves of the house where it wouldn't get wet.  
  
Thunder clapped again, this time closer, and as the sky opened up, rain began to fall. It fell hard, sticking against them with force; huge, fat drops of rain that sounded like gunshot as they head the metal surface of the barbeque grill. Vejiita glanced at her again, then turned his back on her walked brusquely towards the gravity chamber. Her eyes followed him with curiosity, wondering what it had been that she just felt. He reached the door and stuck out a hand to turn the door handle. She watched as his hand froze for a moment, then he shook his head and flew off into the rainy night instead.  
  
Bulma watched him go with a frown on her face. Yamucha was an idiot, but once in a while he could pinpoint things that even she couldn't. She had been staring after Vejiita for quite some time now. She found him attractive of course, who wouldn't? But there was a small sense of something else there as well, something that frightened her. It had started just before that strange boy had shown up to warn them of the jinzouningen. The man that she had once feared and had nightmares of was beginning to seem more and more attractive every day. More and more charming every day.  
  
She sighed as she put Yamucha's chair away, already drenched with rain, then glanced up at the roof of the Capsule Corporation. As a child, whenever she was upset, she had always run up onto the roof to think and cry because no one would find her there and it was quiet. It looked quite threatening at the moment with dark clouds looming over it, but she had too many things on her mind and she needed to think them over. She strode towards the house with purpose. Perhaps, just as when she was a child, going up onto the roof would help her now as well.  
  
*****  
  
She sat herself down on the ledge of the roof, her legs dangling precariously over the edge. The rain continued to fall even harder, creating a steady rhythm on the roof and drenching her completely. Disgusted, she picked up the edge of her shorts, then let the soaked material flop back down against her thighs. She smoothed back her wet hair and was preparing herself to have a good cry. There were simply too many thoughts and too many emotions to keep the tears from flooding over. If nothing else, crying would help release some of the pent up frustrations that she had been carrying around for so long. As her eyes welled up, the sound of footsteps over the rain broke her thoughts. She knew who it was before she even turned around, could sense it in her heart. Ignoring the rain that was running onto her turquoise hair and down her face, Bulma turned and gazed at the approaching figure with a feeling that was in limbo somewhere between fear and hope. She got to her feet slowly and took a step forward, stepping through the puddles of rain on the surface of the roof.  
  
Vejiita was no more than three feet behind her, standing in his usual position with his arms crossed over his strong chest. His face lacked the malice and pride that she usually saw there. It was replaced with something more like confusion. Rain had soaked his clothing and his ran down his face. She stared, not breathing as he approached her slowly.  
  
He lifted a hand and brushed the wet locks of hair from her face unabashedly. Her heart began to beat at an unreasonably quick pace and she met his eyes, feeling as though no force on Earth could force her to look away from him. She reached up and took his hand away from her face and held it tightly in her small delicate hands. Almost so gently that she couldn't even be sure that she really had, she kissed the back of his hand.  
  
Within seconds, so sudden that she wasn't even sure what had happened, she found herself kissing him hungrily on the lips, reveling in the salty taste of sweet rain that had landed on them. Like Vejiita himself, the kiss was vicious and strong, full of hidden emotions and feelings. He wrapped one arm around her and held the one hand behind her head, not allowing her to escape, not moving his lips from hers. His fingers were taught and strong on her back, his entire body tense. The rain, her fight with Yamucha, her past and everything else in her life disappeared in that moment as she kissed him more earnestly. It was as if he was erasing all of her sadness, all of her fears, every single thing that had ever happened to her before, with just this one kiss. She ran her hands through his course, wet hair, then to the back of his neck, caressing it softly. She moved her lips from his, exploring his cheek, then lightly brushing his ear. He reached out a hand, guiding her lips back to his and kissed her even more deeply, his hands holding her more gently as he stroked her soft turquoise hair.  
  
She felt as if she were falling headlong into some deep, pleasurable abyss. No one had ever kissed her like this, so perfectly, making her feel things that she had never before felt in her life. The feelings were overwhelming her and she held on to him more tightly. It was so uncharacteristic for Vejiita to be doing something like this, so shocking and unexpected. Even more surprising was the fact that emotions were running strong through her heart, unlike what she had felt like with any other. And even though neither one had said a word, she felt as though he might feel the same way about her as she thought she felt about him. Bulma had so many questions to ask him, so much she wanted to know, but she was too light-headed to think about that at the moment.  
  
He ended the kiss suddenly, as if just now realizing what he was actually doing and stared at her unblinking with coffee-black eyes. Drops of rain landed on his face, sliding down to the puddles gathering on the roof below them. He didn't angry, he didn't look happy; he just looked completely expressionless and heartbreakingly handsome as he stared at her. She let out a shaky breath realizing that his arm was still around her, and his hand was still holding the back of her head gently.  
  
"Vejiita?" she asked softly touching her swollen lips.  
  
He didn't reply, but slowly released his grip on her until they were standing inches apart, staring at one another. He took in her appearance -- - her clothes soaking wet and her soft hair brushed back from her face and decided that she was the most beautiful creature he had ever seen; the most beautiful thing that he had ever encountered in all of his journeys through the universe. Vejiita let out the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding in and gazed deeply into her azure eyes. If he was going to be with this Earth woman, he needed some time to think about it. He took another step back, then took off into the night, disappearing into the dark sheet of rain that had surrounded them.  
  
After he had disappeared from sight, Bulma sat back down on the ledge of the roof and hugged her wet knees to her chest. Slowly, a wide smile spread across her face until she was grinning ear to ear. Closing her eyes, she lifted her face up to the rain, and as thunder sounded harshly in the distance, she knew her life would never be the same again.  
  
Every time I feel the need  
  
I envision you  
  
Caressing me  
  
And go back in time  
  
To relive the splendor of you and I  
  
On the rooftop that rainy night 


End file.
